The Second
by Tantousha
Summary: A story of the gang, picking up after the season two finale. With a little twist of my own.
1. Back to the Guru

Disclaimer: I don't own The Avatar, or any of its characters. only ' the second' is mine.

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This story picks up right after the end of season two, Crossroads of Destiny. It is basically my version of what happens next. As the season goes on I might add a little here and there or just make it a totally differnt take. Enjoy!

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The Second

"So where do we go now? The entire Earth Kingdom is now under Fire Nation control!"

"Thank you Captain Obvious" muttered Katara. She knew he was right though. They really didn't have anywhere to go. Aang stirred suddenly and she rushed to his side. They had been in the air for hours and he had hardly moved since she used the Oasis water on him. That was the only time he had been conscious.

"…._Guru…. Pathik………._" Aang whispered then he was still once more.

Of course how could she be so stupid?

"Appa, I need you to get us to the Guru as fast as you can!" Appa roared back in response and shot forward quickly.

He had felt them coming from quite a ways off but when he saw Aang his spirit cried out. He rushed Aang to a room in the temple and began to gather herbs, tonics and a water basin for Katara so she could work beside him.

Even though the spirit water had brought him back, Aang was still in critical condition. The burns on and in his body were severe and some his battle wounds were on the verge of becoming infected. He and Katara worked quickly, but efficiently. They both knew if either of them lost it now it would be over.

What was just a few minutes seemed like hours to them. And in the emptiness of the temple, they began to lose hope.

"It was really bad" Toph whispered to Sokka

"I know" Sokka answered clutching Momo tightly. "I know". He had never felt so useless. Aang was lying just in the next room, broken and Sokka couldn't do anything about it. He struggled against the tears and the hopelessness, but when he looked up into the silent, oh ever silent, tears of Toph he lost it and gathered her close.

"He'll come through though," he whispered. "He has Katara and the Guru working on him, and us praying for him. He gonna pull through. He is the Avatar."

Exhausted they watched him breath evenly. Too tired to speak and too emotional for words, they staggered out of the room right into Sokka and Toph.

"I felt you coming" the latter said. "Here eat something"

Katara took the bread gratefully, and ate slowly.

"He is going to be okay. But he is going to need lots of rest."

"Well said Captain Obvious," teased Sokka lightly with a crooked smile. And Katara couldn't help smiling too.

Within the chamber Aang dreamed. He was at the temple, but 100 years ago. He saw so many airbenders, but they could not see him. Their faces were fallen, and they talked in hushed whispers.

"…just disappeared…."

"…then she just collapsed."

Aang caught bits and pieces. He knew they were partly talking of him, but who else? He wandered around, but felt drawn deeper and deeper into the temple. He peaked into a large room with many ancient benders gathered around a pillar of spirit energy. He looked up and say a girl. Her eyes suddenly opened.

_I am here. Awaken me._

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Ooooooooo! Yah for cliff hangers! find out who the second is on the next installment...review please! 


	2. Through the First Door

Wow it has been forever since I updated...sorry. But happy day! My muse is back and ready for action. I hope you all are enjoying this. Thx for the reviews and please keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, or any of the characters, only the second is mine.

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"He's awake! Katara!"

She sat up with a start, her mind racing to register the words.

"He's…awake...! WHAT?!!" She got to her feet and ran as fast as she could to Aang's room, where Toph and Sokka met her. It had been several days since their arrival at the air temple and, since then, Aang had laid comatose, until now.

Quietly they stepped into the room, where Guru Pathik was just finishing up helping Aang eat a bit.

"Aang…" cried Katara almost near tears.

"Hey…guys." Whispered Aang with a weak smile.

"Nice to see you back among the living."

"For once, I agree with Knucklehead over here." Toph smirked.

"Oh my gosh!!" she pointed at Sokka and Toph, "You guys! Seriously, I can't believe all you can say is…"

Katara stopped, and turned around to find Aang chuckling quietly. His eyes were still filled with pain, but they were alive with joy.

She turned "How do you feel?"

Aang paused for a moment. "Like a lightning rod."

Katara and Toph smiled, while Sokka burst out laughing.

They sat there for a bit, relishing in the fact that their foursome was complete. "We'll let you rest now," Said Katara "Go back to sleep."

"'K," he paused and waited until Katara was alone and about the leave, "Katara?"

"Yes?" She answered.

"Have you ever…had a dream that…you thought was real?"

She lowered her head to think. "Yes," she said tentatively, "I have, but I think since you are the Avatar that is means more than what mine have meant."

A shadow of thought crossed Aang's face, but of what emotion Katara couldn't tell.

"Just get some rest, and we can talk more later, okay?"

"Okay." Replied Aang, closing his eyes.

Katara closed the door quietly, and let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Something was up, but she couldn't figure what. She wrapped her arms round her as a sudden chill settled around the still temple. 'I must go and find Guru Pathik', she finally decided. 'He will know what is going on.'

---------------------------------------------------

_Aang again was walking the corridor, surrounded by faces people and whispering voices._

"_Never made it here."_

"…_just disappeared."_

"…_then she just…"_

"…_collapsed."_

_The hall grew quieter and quieter as he continued to walk down it. His mind was reeling, 'who else are they talking about?!' Suddenly the big room appeared, and Aang had to shield his eyes from the pillar of light_

Come

_Aang looked up to see the agonizing familiar face suspended in the light. Without warning the ground lurched and he was thrown back. Hw passed through a series of four temple doors, one for each element. The temple around him was quiet with the memories of the passing ages, and hung with the sorrows of the world._

Come

Aang awoke with a start. The dreams would not end. Even in the predawn silence of the temple, he could still hear the whisperings from the shadows. 'I must end this.'

Slowly and painfully, Aang sat up. As soon as his feet touched the floor he almost cried out in pain. But he knew this couldn't go on. Every step was excruciating, but with every step the way got more familiar and the voices stronger. The dust of the ages swirled around his feet, but soon he did not notice. Time crept without detection, but whether forwards or backwards, Aang couldn't tell. The voices now resonated within his head, drowning out all other thought. Then, they stopped at its absence created a void that made him blink in confusion.

He was at the door.

Aang recognized it at once. It was the temple door of the airbenders. Summoning the will to go on, he got into his stance and channeled the air to unlock the door. The air was filled with the familiar chord of the locks turning. One door down, three more to go.

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Katara felt a firm hand shaking her awake.

"…sss tooo eearlly…." She mumbled.

"Katara," she heard Toph's voice echo strangely in her head. "Aang isn't in his bed."

"WHAT?!" she sat up quickly, almost head-butting the gray eyed girl in from of her.

"I think I felt him pass us a few moments ago," Toph whispered.

"Which way?"

She pointed, "down that hall."

"Come on we need…."

"Hold on, get the guru. We might need him," she paused, "We might loose the trail."

"Right." Katara couldn't help but nod. Though her mind was screaming to follow right away, she had to face Toph's logic. But as she turned around to go find him, he was right there. Katara opened her mouth to relay the news, but the guru stopped her.

"I know."

Wordlessly then they ran down the hall, praying that they would find the missing boy. After a few minuets, Katara turned and met the eyes of the aged man.

"He was been having dreams that seem real." He nodded. "Do you know…?"

"Yes. " He answered. "But now is not the time to tell. We must find him first."

They continued to run, but each knew their feet couldn't carry them fast enough. Suddenly they rounded a corner and had to shield their eyes from the intensity of the blast. Then the chord sounded. Katara opened her eyes to see a small silhouette against the light.

"Aang!!" she screamed.

The doors swung shut.

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Sorry hoestly about all the cliff hangers, they are just so easy to end with! Please R &R! 


	3. Waking the Dream

hey everyone!!!! Chapter three is here! Yeah! I hope you are all excited as I am for the new season to start, honestly, they took long enough. Well here you go,

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or any other the chacaters execpt for the Second.

We left Aang right after he passed through the first door, the door of Air...

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Aang looked around in confusion. He felt different. Glancing down, he realized what the difference was… his right arm was healed, and glowing.

"Whoa" he breathed. Dust whirled around him as he glanced up at his new surroundings. 'I am in the next room,' he suddenly realized. He stepped forward and the dust parted. There looming in front of him was the door of Earth. The earthen wall was, here split into four with the touching corners inscribed so when shut the seal of earth was made.

Aang limped up to it carefully, aware that he was severely dwarfed in comparison. Studying it quietly with his hands he muttered, "each section has to go in a different direction at the same time." He pursed his lips, the call was coming strong and stronger the closer he got. Stepping back he took his stance. For a few minuets nothing happened, and then slowing the door shook and inched, ever so slowly, began to open. Sweat poured down Aang's face as his tired body screamed for him to stop. Time stood still for a moment, but soon the doors ceased to move further. They were open. Staggering, Aang walked across the threshold into the next room.

Katara could have cried.

"We have to go after him!!" she practically shrieked at the guru.

Though his long face was pale, his voice was steady and his eyes calm. "Aang is fulfilling a part of his destiny. Only the Avatar can open these doors. He will be alright, but we need to be ready for him to come out. "He paused, "Go get your brother and we shall all wait here for him to emerge. Don't worry, soon all of our questions will be answered."

Katara whirled around at a loss to do nothing but obey Pathik's words. As she passed Toph she heard her whisper lowly.

"They better be answered, because we have a whole lot of them."

Katara silently agreed.

Aang leaned against the earthen door after it shut. He was exhausted, but once again his body began to fill with power. He looked down. The leg that the lightening had exited had been angry, red and extremely painful, but now it too was healed and its tattoos glowing. He got up and tested his body. The glowing extremities were strong and pain free, where the others were tired, aching and covered with bruises from his previous battle. So preoccupied with his body, he almost didn't hear it.

_Come_

The call seemed to resound around the room. Suppressing his newfound curiosity and bewilderment, Aang walked forward, aware of the water splashing around his feet and beginning to soak through his clothes. Then he reached it; the third door. The rounded door was covered with an intricate design of small blue pipes, the darkest and richest blue making the insignia of the Water Tribes. Aang saw quickly what he had to do. He began to bend the water around him into several, long and thin strands of water. He led each of the water strands into a corresponding hole, big enough just for it.  
Then Aang began to weave. He led each strand simultaneously through each twisting pipe until the seal popped out, turned a 360 and settled back in, unlocking the door. Aang stepped through, knowing which room was next. In the darkness of the last room, before flames would rise up to meet him, Aang noticed his left arm was shining.

"I don't wanna…"

"Sokka get up right now, or so help me…"

Sokka sat right up at the sound of his sister's distraught voice. "What's wrong Katara?" Suddenly she collapsed in him arms blubbering incoherently. "Sshhh." He said gently, rocking her back and forth. "It's going to be okay." They sat there, together in the silence, content for the moment to just be.

"Thanks…" Came a muffed voice from his shirt.

"You're welcome." He replied smiling. "Now," he said, sensing his sister read to talk, "what's up?"

"It's Aang." She began, and quickly related the story to her silent brother. A cold feeling dropped down Sokka's stomach at the conclusion of the tale. He stood up and grabbed her hand.

"It will be alright, but we need to get back and be there for him."

Katara nodded, and so they set off.

The roar filled his ears and the smoke his lungs. Aang was surrounded by ring of fire and in front of him was the temple door of fire with it's five metallic dragons gleaming back at Aang.

"No" Aang fell to his knees. His head hung in defeat. He knew he couldn't go back without going all the way forward. "I can't..I don't know…"

_Yes, you do_

_Images flashed before his eyes of his short training so long ago that ended in his vow to never to firebend again. And then of his lesson with Pathik, which broke his vow._

_Remember, you can_

Aang stood up and lowered himself into the stance he had almost forgotten. His breathing slowed, and soon his chi was calm and his spirit ready to bend. Summoning the fire to his hand he whispered a quiet prayer, "Roku," and unleashed the fire into the mouths of the dragons, unlocking the final door. His other leg filed with power, he was ready. The heat disappeared as the door sounded shut again. Aang opened his eyes that he had unknowingly shut. The voices had stopped.

Here Aang stood, in the center of his dream. The mist of the ages swirled around his feet as he walked through a long vaulted hall. Everything was noiseless and the colors muted. The only thing that held the attention was the rippling energy that cascaded from the staircase at the end of the corridor. The corridor seemed to stretch on for miles, but all too soon Aang found himself at the top step looking down into the slightly illuminated staircase below. For some reason, he hesitated, but he could not figure out why.

Trembling he took one step down. The pulsing thrummed in response. He took another, and again the anomaly sounded. Each step down the pulse fired in sequence, never stronger or weaker, but just there in every fiber of Aang's being. He reached the bottom and looked up into the pillar of light into the face.

_You have come_

"Yes, but why? Who are you?"

_Only the Avatar can free me. _

She tilted her head down so that her power-filled, yet sightless eyes rested on Aang.

_I am your second, someone after your own liking_

"But!!!" Aang started, "I don't understand!"

_But you will_

Light flooded the room and Aang once again felt as if he was being pulled backward the way he came, but this time there was someone with him.

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Huzah! I promise you will ifnd out who she is next time! hehehe. PS. Everyone say hi to my new beta, Hito!!! 


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